Meet Joel Black! We had the pleasure of chatting with Joel and learning more about his stance in Franklin County and we’re sharing what he had to say with you.
Joel Black has been a resident of Franklin County for just under two years and has been with the Chamber slightly longer than a year. Joel tells he is married to a beautiful woman who works as an art teacher. They don’t have children yet (they are enjoying their sleep still!).
When we asked Joel about his connection to Franklin County, he said “As a kid we would come through here on our way to Hagerstown and we always stopped at Texas Lunch, my dad loved it. So we would come down through here and that was my interaction with Franklin County at that time. My wife got a job down here about a year after we got married and that brought us down here, so that’s kind of our connection. It’s her base, her family is down here now.”
Growing up in a family with small business owners largely inspired Joel’s current career. He tells us that helped him understand many of the challenges of being a small business owner as will as giving him the desire to really fight for small businesses. He previously worked in a political position specifically fighting for small business owners. He loves to learn their stories and then be able to tell those stories as well. Joel tells us he is continuously inspired by the humility of the small business owners he comes across – many who won’t tell their own stories because their focus is on the customers rather than themselves. Joel says his reaction is always, “you’re not going to tell your story, but I am because it’s such an awesome thing to have.” Joel loves that through the Chamber he is able to tell those stories and actively support the business community.
We stumped Joel when we asked him what his proudest achievement was. He struggled to come up with an answer for us, but eventually responded, “I’m proud of the work I do here, but I don’t feel as though I’ve met my ultimate achievement, at least not to the fullest extent. But marrying my wife, let’s go with that one!”
Joel told us about some his favorite places to go and things to do in Franklin County. He enjoys going up to Boswell Pipes and meet with a group of guys that just hang out and enjoy some cigars. He describes Boswell Pipes as an awesome little place and a great place to have in Franklin County. He loves to visit Gearhouse, a brewing company in Chambersburg. Joel also loves to play golf at the Chambersburg County Club and enjoys going to Penn National as well. He tells us there are so many great options in Franklin County it’s hard to choose favorites. Joel also commented that he has lived across the country and he feels it’s very challenging to find a small tight knit community that also has to many great things to offer – like two 5-star golf courses.
We asked Joel who the most interesting person he has met in Franklin County is and he shared JM at Boswell’s is a fascinating guy to listen to and talk to. You can learn so many interesting facts. He continues, telling us there are so many interesting people in Franklin County, including the former President of the U.S. Chamber, a past Sergeant of Arms for the US House of Representatives, people have had worked in the Pentagon and the business owners he gets to hear stories from. There’s such a great blend of people and backgrounds.
Joel told us he loves Franklin County for things like “the close knit community, the safety, the small town feel but also access to the bigger cities and that’s just really cool.” He would tell visitors to take at least a week because there is so much and you should just get out and explore – downtown Chambersburg has a ton of stuff, but then Penn National is a short drive away too and you could spend an entire day there alone. He highly recommends eating at local restaurants, drinking local beer, and checking out local wineries as well. His biggest suggestion is to spread yourself out across the county and don’t confine yourself to just one small area. To wrap it up his recommendations, Joel says, “Eat local, drink local, and just explore.”
Joel himself is still exploring and never runs out of new things to try. The things he most wants to experience next in Franklin County is to go to the Totem Pool Playhouse and get out to see some productions and just get to see what it is. Being the new guy from out of town, everything is still new and there is still so much to see and do. Joel said his very favorite things about Franklin County are, “there’s just so much to do here, it’s s small community but is so close knit and has that family feel everywhere you go, all of these businesses have that personal touch and you see that throughout the whole community.”
We asked Joel to tell us someone he might want to have lunch with and then describe where they should go and what they should order. After much deliberation, he settled on lunch at Gearhouse, where he would recommend a salmon poke bowl, steamed pork buns, a burger, and drink a Dunkelweiss. He narrowed down his lunch guest to Jimmy Carter, whom he admires not only from his Presidency but also what he accomplished post Presidency as well.
Something interesting most people don’t know about Joel is that his father worked for a manufacturing company that built swing sets and he got to be the model child for many of the posters for the company across the U.S. because his dad’s office was near marketing.
We’ve started asking all of our interviewees what three words come to mind when they think of “home” and Joel’s response was, “Family, love, and comfort – wherever you find family you also find love and it brings comfort. There is always such a comfort to going home and feeling that love.”
